Skip to content
NCBNational Capability Benchmark
Navigate with โ†‘ โ†“Enter to openEsc to close

Challenge the benchmark

Choose a score and give the benchmark a specific reason to reconsider it.

When you submit, the form attaches the current score and confidence for the country and capability you chose.

Submissions are public and start as awaiting review. A maintainer can add a response and signature after review.

Documented examples

Each record describes something a country built that the indicators do not capture. The source provides the published number; the mechanism is our interpretation.

Scores describe outcomes. These records describe how a country acted, what it needed and what happened. 742 of 742 records include a mechanism. They do not affect scores.

Narrow the list

6 of 742 deliveries

Learning

1 delivery linked to Adult learning participation.

Panamasince 2006still operatingbears on Adult learning participation

INADEH national vocational training

Panama's national vocational training institute, INADEH, restructured by Decree Law 8 of 2006, recorded 156,032 course graduates in 2021, against 90,107 in 2019 and 38,628 in the pandemic year 2020.

156,032 graduates, inadeh course, workshop and programme graduates, 2021. 90,107 graduates, inadeh graduates before the pandemic, 2019. Instituto Nacional de Formaciรณn Profesional y Capacitaciรณn para el Desarrollo Humano (INADEH), Reporte estadรญstico 2023, historical table 2011 to 2021, retrieved 2026-10-01.

The move, and what it needed

Panama's government, through a tripartite board chaired by the labour minister, runs one autonomous national training institute with fixed regional centres, mobile courses and, since 2020, a virtual campus, so short courses can be scaled up in a crisis without new institutions.

Preconditions

  • A dedicated training levy or budget line that survives changes of government
  • A network of regional centres and mobile units that reaches comarcas and rural provinces
  • A course registry able to count enrolment and completion by area and centre

Where else it has been used: National training institutes on the SENA and SENAI model are common in Latin America; INADEH's pandemic shift to a virtual campus shows the model scaling through cheap online short courses, which raises the count faster than it raises skills.

Limits: The construct asks for the share of adults trained in the last 12 months; this is a count of graduations from one public provider, so it is neither a share nor a count of people: one person finishing three short courses counts three times, and private and employer training are missing. The 2021 jump is driven by the virtual campus (55,968 graduates at 'Virtual Sede' that year, none before 2020) and by short courses, so it may reflect lighter course formats rather than more training hours. The institute reports on itself and calls the figures preliminary, extracted from its SISGED database. The table carries visible typos (a 2013 female count printed as 32,64), and nothing after 2021 was found in this series. The started year is the 2006 decree law that restructured INAFORP, a predecessor created in 1983, into INADEH, so national vocational training predates it.

Adaptability

3 deliveries linked to Institutional responsiveness, Disaster preparedness and recovery.

Panamasince 2009still operatingbears on Institutional responsiveness

120 a los 65 social pension

Panama's 120 a los 65 programme paid a non-contributory pension to an average of about 123,000 older people per payment during July 2019โ€“June 2024, with B/.890.835 million programmed over the period and a national beneficiary register used to target eligibility.

123,000 people, average beneficiaries per payment, 2019-07 to 2024-06. 890,834,970 Panamanian balboas, programmed investment in the period, 2019-07 to 2024-06. Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, management report 2019โ€“2024, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Panama created a tax-funded pension for older people outside formal contributory schemes, then used the Registro Nacional de Beneficiarios and scheduled payments through banks and hard-to-reach-area operations to make eligibility portable across provinces and comarcas.

Preconditions

  • A national identity and beneficiary register that can verify age, residency and pension status
  • A budget commitment that survives changes in the contributory pension system
  • Payment logistics and local access points able to reach people outside the banking network

Where else it has been used: Non-contributory pensions travel where formal employment leaves older people uncovered. Panama's case shows that the registry and payment route are as important as the transfer promise, especially in remote and Indigenous territories.

Limits: Beneficiary and budget figures show administrative reach, not adequacy, take-up, payment regularity or reductions in poverty and health insecurity. The average covers several years and the register can miss older people in remote areas; the programme's own report is not a causal evaluation.

Panamasince 2023operating below its peakbears on Disaster preparedness and recovery

Canal water-and-transit response to the 2023โ€“24 drought

During the extreme 2023โ€“24 drought, the Panama Canal Authority adjusted draft and booking rules to preserve water for the canal and the lakes supplying more than half of Panama's population, reducing daily transits from the normal 36 to 22 in December 2023 while keeping the waterway operating.

22 transits per day, daily transits during the december drought restriction, 2023-12. 36 transits per day, normal daily transit capacity, normal conditions. Autoridad del Canal de Panamรก, drought transit advisory, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

The canal authority used hydrological forecasts, vessel booking quotas and draft restrictions to ration a shared water system, protecting drinking-water reserves while preserving a predictable minimum service for maritime customers.

Preconditions

  • Real-time water and traffic data with an authority empowered to change operating rules
  • A single institution able to trade off shipping revenue against urban water security
  • Customers and pilots who can plan around transparent, staged restrictions rather than abrupt closure

Where else it has been used: Water-stressed infrastructure needs an operating playbook, not only new capacity. Panama's drought response shows how transparent rationing and forecasts can preserve a service while a longer watershed solution is built.

Limits: The reduction is a documented loss of peak transit capacity during one drought, not evidence that the watershed problem is solved or that every user receives equal service. The canal authority sets the rules and reports the trade-offs; the record does not quantify the effect on households, ecosystems or shipping costs, and later rainfall can restore capacity without removing the underlying vulnerability.

Panamasince 2020delivered and closedbears on Institutional responsiveness

Plan Panamรก Solidario, Vale Digital

Panama's government created the Plan Panamรก Solidario digital voucher during the 2020 COVID-19 closures, reaching 90,492 people in its first month (April 2020), 458,662 in May and a peak of 949,343 in November 2020, then tapered it as employment returned and ended it in 2023.

949,343 people, monthly voucher beneficiaries at peak, 2020-11. 458,662 people, monthly voucher beneficiaries in the second month of operation, 2020-05. Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, Informe de Gestiรณn julio 2019 a junio 2024 (Cuadro No. 13, data from the Autoridad de Innovaciรณn Gubernamental), retrieved 2026-10-01.

The move, and what it needed

The national government, through MIDES and the Autoridad de Innovaciรณn Gubernamental, built a digital voucher tied to the national identity number and paid merchants directly, so it could switch on a nationwide transfer within weeks of the closures and switch it off gradually as people went back to work.

Preconditions

  • A national identity number usable as the key for eligibility and payment
  • A digital-government agency able to build and run a registration and recharge platform at national scale
  • A merchant network willing to accept vouchers and a treasury able to pay them promptly

Where else it has been used: Pandemic voucher schemes ran across Latin America in 2020; Panama's shows that an exit rule (re-screening through a social file as employment returned) is part of a responsive programme, not an afterthought.

Limits: The figures are the ministry's own management report at the end of a government's term, sourced to the digital-government authority's platform, and are not audited. Monthly beneficiary counts show how fast the programme scaled, not whether it reached the right people: MIDES itself introduced the Ficha Social later to screen out people who did not need it, which implies early targeting was loose. The table counts people receiving a recharge in a month, and the report's own headline of about 1.3 million people ever covered is a different, cumulative measure. The voucher was a temporary emergency measure ended by design, so a later case with no comparable shock cannot be read from it. Speed came partly from an emergency mandate and from spending about B/.2.08 billion paid to merchants between 2020 and March 2024 (Cuadro No. 15), which says nothing about fiscal sustainability. The figures sit in a PDF table, and the server rejects requests without a browser-like user agent, so checking takes manual work.

Building

2 deliveries linked to Large project delivery.

Panamasince 2007still operatingbears on Large project delivery

Panama Canal expansion and self-financing operations

After the third set of locks opened in 2016, the Panama Canal Authority handled 9,944 deep-draft transits and 423 million tonnes of cargo in fiscal year 2024, reporting B/.4.986 billion in total revenue despite climate constraints.

9,944 transits, deep-draft vessel transits, FY2024. 423,000,000 tonnes, cargo tonnage through the canal, FY2024. Autoridad del Canal de Panamรก, fiscal year 2024 results, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Panama put a strategic infrastructure asset under an autonomous public authority with its own revenue, long-term capital programme and technical workforce, then expanded locks and service rules around the needs of global shipping customers.

Preconditions

  • A legally protected authority able to retain revenue and plan beyond annual budget cycles
  • Stable access to multilateral and bond finance for a megaproject with a long construction period
  • Hydrological, engineering and maritime expertise that can coordinate a global customer base with local water and land constraints

Where else it has been used: A self-financing infrastructure authority travels where one asset has national strategic value, but Panama's canal shows the governance bargain: autonomy brings delivery capacity only when public accountability and water constraints remain visible.

Limits: Traffic and revenue show an operating logistics asset, not the expansion's full cost and schedule record, its distributional effects or the counterfactual value of alternative routes. The canal's own results report is not an independent audit of construction performance, and tonnage varies with world trade and vessel mix.

Panamasince 2010still operatingbears on Large project delivery

Metro de Panamรก network operations

Panama's public metro network, inaugurated in 2014 and expanded with Line 2, transported 118,351,007 passengers in the twelve-month operating period reported in its 2024 institutional memory.

118,351,007 passengers, passengers transported in the reported year, 2023-11 to 2024-10. 321,519 passengers in one day, peak daily passengers on line 1, 2024-04-30. Metro de Panamรก, Institutional Memory 2024, retrieved 2026-08-31.

The move, and what it needed

Panama built a dedicated metro company, sequenced lines around the capital's commuting corridors and combined central financing, concession contracts and an operating workforce so a new line could be integrated into a growing network rather than run as a one-off project.

Preconditions

  • A metropolitan transport authority able to reserve corridors and integrate fares and buses
  • Multi-year financing and procurement capacity for civil works, rolling stock and systems
  • An operator and maintenance regime that can turn an opened line into a dependable daily service

Where else it has been used: Metro systems travel as network institutions, not just tunnels. Panama's ridership makes the operational layer visible: integration, maintenance and staffing determine whether construction becomes reliable mobility.

Limits: Ridership demonstrates use and operating scale, not whether each line met its original cost or schedule, how much subsidy it requires or whether travel-time gains are shared across the metropolitan area. The operator reports the figures, and a peak day is not a reliability or maintenance measure.